I was reading a article on prey drive building in puppies. And I came across this statement

"My choice as the next skill the dog should learn is to flush the prey by barking. The previous training steps should have created a bit of an obsession in the dog for chasing and biting the prey (rag). As before I start by stimulating the dog's prey drive with the wiggly rag, I may even let the dog snap at it and miss once. Then when I have the dog primed for this activity, I create a bit of frustration by suddenly stopping all action and movement. The helper stands still looking off into the distance, the rag hanging in his hand lifeless. Most dogs whine just a bit, then they let out a frustration yelp. It is this yelp which causes the rag to fly up like a bird flushed from a bush, and the dog gets to make prey. It won't take long until these initial yelps turn into demanding barks which sound purposeful and pushy; their goal, to get the action started again. So, the dog learns early on that he has some control over what happens on the field, and that barking is the way to make things happen. The reason I incorporate this exercise this early into training is to avoid letting the dog get so pre-occupied with biting during protection work that nothing else matters to him any more."

I asked my head trainer about this and he thinks this is a bad idea because you end up with dogs that barks during obedience. Does anyone else have experience/ do this in their drive training?

This is the web site http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/prey1.html

I read the book from Helmut Raiser and I attended also one of his seminars. I only can agree with this. I do the same thing in developing prey drive and show the dog that his action (barking) makes the prey move and the proetection work begin. It worked always for me and I had never ever problems of barking in obedience. I don't know where he bases this on. I think you're doing the right thing.

I use the same method and don't get barked at in OB. It is hard when you have different ideas than the head trainer. A good head trainer won't interfere if this is the way you would like to do it. There are many clubs in Colorado if there is to much disagreement.

Well I worked with Armin at Schutzhund Village for almost a year and a half and it never caused any barking to be transfered over to the obedience.

Thanks for all the input.

I am curious, would you PM me and tell me what club you train with?